It has been fascinating to read your collective thoughts on summer migrants across the Quantocls. I took my family there today and we walked up Hodder’s Combe and up onto Bicknoller Post, before then heading south and returning via Slaughterhouse Combe. We had 3 singing wood warblers, 3 spot flys, at least 3 singing redstart and four or five pied flys. Highlight tho, were a family of Dartford warblers on the heathland above Slaughterhouse. All in all, a terrific day’s birding…

Matt. There have always been a few Wood Warblers in Duke’s Plantation and Shervage but you are right numbers started to increase about 10 years ago and peaked last year. From my records, and I have covered the Quantocks for the best of 45 years, there were only a few records of Wood Warblers in the Quantock Forest. These mainly heard on the road up to Triscombe Stone from the forestry office, there were at least five singing/calling this week. It was in 2019 that they started to arrive in numbers and I recorded them in places I had not had them before, last year was the first time in the Floorey Down/Keepers Combe area apart from the odd single bird. 
Perhaps one of the reasons for this move could be that there is more understorey growth in the forest area - fewer sheep and deer - bearing in mind they are ground nesting and the cover in Hodder’s and Holford Combe is greatly diminished over the last ten years or so.
Very few people would appear to bird the Quantock Forest in spring/summer from the records so with more areas covered no doubt the number would increase still further. 

Hi Robin, great to hear from you.

Were you the one I spoke to on April 28th? I remember speaking to a couple up there when there were still Ring Ouzels around.
I was with my family and our dog.

That’s very interesting Brian. Could there be a reason for the higher numbers in conifer woodlands compared with oak woodlands? Maybe it’s to do with food availability or seed masting events affecting the number of nest predators available.

Have there always been Wood Warblers in Great Wood or is that just a recent thing?
In 2018, I only recorded two Wood Warblers in Duke’s Plantation, but in 2022, I recorded 5.

Whilst in the traditional main combes such as Hodder’s and Holford the number of Wood Warblers has declined massively it is not the same in the Quantock Forest. In the last 10 days I have recorded 27 mainly singing males in the forest which is roughly similar to last. Several have been singing in just areas of conifer with no deciduous trees present. These included nine in Cockercombe and five in Quantock Combe. Seems a definite move away from the oak woodlands into mainly conifer areas in recent years.

That is great, excellent data, as you say shame about the wood warbler, I was assuming they were just late, it wasn’t you I spoke to at Bicknoller post was it ? I was walking a springer.

Wow - that is an amazing compilation for the area - very, very well done - one of the best reports I’ve ever seen on this site and so many lovely species - Your hard work was very much worth it and enjoyed by others.  Excellent 11 /10 for that!

Spent 13.5 hours up the Quantocks yesterday and yielded the following results:

Vinny Combe Plantation:
1 Cuckoo, 2 Tawny Owl, 5 Willow Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, 1 Redstart, 1 Yellowhammer.

Hodder’s Combe:
2 Stock Dove, 2 GS Woodpecker, 1 Jay, 1 Treecreeper, 5 Pied Flycatcher, 2 Redstart, 2 Grey Wagtail.

Slaughterhouse Combe:
1 Wood Warbler, 3 Treecreeper, 7 Pied Flycatcher, 2 Redstart, 1 flyover Redpoll.

Hare Knapp:
1 Cuckoo, 4 Willow Warbler, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Tree Pipit, 1 Yellowhammer.

Holford Combe:
3 Cuckoo, 1 Tawny Owl, 2 Treecreeper, 9 Pied Flycatcher, 4 Grey Wagtail.

Knacker’s Hole/Shervage Woods:
1 Swift, 1 Cuckoo, 6 Willow Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 6 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Redstart.

Duke’s Plantation:
4 Wood Warbler, 4 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Redstart, 4 Siskin.

Bin Combe:
1 Wood Warbler, 2 Nuthatch, 8 Pied Flycatcher.

Frog Combe:
1 Jay, 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Redstart, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Tree Pipit.

Somerton Combe:
1 Cuckoo, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Nuthatch, 2 Treecreeper, 3 Pied Flycatcher.

Shepherd’s Combe:
3 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Pied Flycatcher, 2 Yellowhammer.

I started coming up here when I was just 14 years old and have definitely noticed some changes in the past 10 years. Wood Warbler numbers appear to have collapsed, possibly due to warmer/drier springs/summers limiting the amount of food available. I had 7 in a small area on Exmoor two weeks ago so perhaps Wood Warblers do better there due to slightly more rainfall, with it being 5-10 miles further west of the Quantocks.
Their altitudinal limit seems to be getting narrower and narrower…

On a more positive note, the Grasshopper Warbler was the first I have ever known of up here and I also recorded 20+ Dartford Warbler over the whole area, which represents a massive increase in just the past two years.